5G comparison: Why o2 only wins on paper

In the independent network test by Opensignal, mobile communications provider o2 can win exactly one category - the big winner is Telekom. However, when it comes to the particularly important download speed, o2 is ahead. But the result has to be viewed with caution.

Telekom is the overall winner in 5G - but o2 can score

5G is still considered the future standard for mobile communications in Germany - which is also due to the fact that the network expansion is simply not so advanced that everyone could use it. But even where 5G is already available, there are differences in the offer. The analysis company Opensignal examined the status quo in August 2021 - and found that Telekom is the big overall winner , while o2 customers can hope for the fastest downloads.

Theoretically, o2 can provide the highest download speeds - with an impressive 131.4 Mbit / s on average, the Telekom is exceeded by over 20 Mbit / s. Vodafone lands in 3rd place while 1 & 1 does not yet appear in the comparison.

As Opensignal itself explains: "Higher frequency bands generally offer a larger spectral bandwidth, which helps enable faster download speeds for mobile communications than lower bands with lower capacity." Currently, o2 only transmits in the range of 3.5 GHz in 5G operation . Telekom and Vodafone also use lower frequency bands, thus achieving a greater range and coverage, but also a lower average speed.

O2 can see itself as currently the fastest download provider, but customers can quickly get to the end of the 5G network - and then only 4G is available anyway. In the future, all providers should support the frequencies of the switched off 3G networks (UMTS) 4G and 5G.

In contrast to O2, however, Vodafone did not achieve a partial victory in Opensignal's mobile radio test. All other categories of 5G availability, 5G range, 5G video experience, 5G games experience, 5G voice quality experience in apps and 5G upload speed are chosen by Telekom.

5G support is now also available for cheap cell phones, you can find some smartphone bargains in our video :

What does that mean for O2 customers?

If you want to conclude a contract with o2 for the special 5G experience, you should think twice about this step. Despite the high download speed, Telekom is currently doing much better. If you want to be absolutely sure, you can rely on dual SIM to achieve maximum coverage through access to multiple networks. For existing O2 customers, however, the results are not a necessary indication to change providers - the network is being expanded.